Talbott's Reviews - the 01st

November 09, 2016

5.8 Loulou in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, 107, rue de Rivoli in the 1st, 01.42.60.41.96, open 7/7 (Metro: Palais Royal/Musee du Louvre) is brought to us by the team in charge of Monsieur Bleu in the Palais de Tokyo, a place I liked somehat in the summer of 2013 but thought was too pricy; well, welcome to the same here. Beautiful setting, Saarinen chairs, eye-popping prices on the carte (no "menu" thank you very much.)

While waiting to order we had very nice foccacia and EVOO and looking at the carte with its Italianate twists (pastas and pizzas) I recalled Mr. Husband's description of the food as if on a "Riviera" menu.

My French dining partner ordered the seafood/shellfish main with a nice fluffy sauce and I had two huge sweetbread lobes Milanese with quite good reduced onions on the side.

Since we were both in need of a sugar and starch fix after the US election last night we ordered dessert: a huge Pavlova or meringue, raspberries, orange slices and whipped cream and I had the huge Baba au rhum with too much cream as well.

With a bottle of wine, good bread, two coffees and no bottled water (the waiter didn't leave the carafe on the table because the patron told them they didn't have enough - in this fancy a restaurant with these prices?) our bill was 139 E. dB's not recorded because it was either quiet or occasionally pierced by a screaming kid.

Go? While I'm sure in good weather the outside will be as nice a setting as its predecessor - Le Saut du Loup - the prices are really off-putting.

October 26, 2016

7.3 Chez La Vieille, 1, Rue Bailleul in the 1st, no reservations, open 12-12 except Sunday's and Monday's is the latest of Daniel Rose's inspirations, following Spring in the 9th, Spring in the 1st, La Vie et La Bourse, Le Coucou in NY and diversions into lobster rolls and coucou des Rennes.

Ok three digressions:Todays photos are not mine but courtesy of my co-diner, Stephanie Fray.Disclosure, I've known Daniel since his first venture and consider him a friend thus anything I say can quite rightly be challenged.I ate on opening day and as we all know, things change.

In any case, Daniel started four of us, all food nuts, two in the biz, with glasses of a Loire, a hefty red and light red and starters of his take on her (the Dame's) terrine de canard with his own pickles and horseradish and onions, rillettes of sardines with algae butter, yes, he's been serving and surprising us with this for years, and traditional herring with potatoes (but never better).

Then we shared, as we had the firsts, his Basque bouillon with potatoes and lots of other things that those of you who dropped by his boutique across the street recall so well, his updating of her blanquette de veau and what was called a "Demi coquelet a la diable" - a joke, because it was chicken from heaven with mushrooms from outside its gates.

Desserts were a far with prunes and a poached pear.

Ok, the bill, the truth - how about 136.50 E with bottled water, 3 coffees and a tea for 4, thus 68.25 E a couple?

Go? If you love(d) any of Rose's prior ventures, you'll love this, if not, I feel sorry for you.

October 01, 2016

Sequana on the Quai des Orfevres in the First is delightful, from welcome to décor to dishes that please the palate. They have four menus - of 2 courses at 24 or 3 at 32, 4 at 47 or 6 at 67 E. And the wines are nicely priced starting at 25 E for a Moulin-a-Vent.

The amuse was "chips" atop moules with fresh herbs; delicious - and then Colette and I had fresh sardines with zucchini cut like spaghetti squash - a brilliant start to the meal.

Our mains were a quasi of veal with beets; line caught bass with decorative flowers on top of a razor clam; and sweetbreads and veal and morels.

There was a brief intermezzo with nice pieces of Shropshire cheese and figs; followed by plums with milky Oolong tea and myrtilles and Tonka beans; then coffee with divine macaroons.

Our bill for 3 was 177.00 with two bottles of wine but no bottled water; thus 111.32 E a couple.

September 07, 2016

7.3 Sequana (*Sequana was or is the nymph at the head of the Seine River outside), 72, quai des Orfevres in the 1st, 01.43.29.78.81, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Pont Neuf) is in the location where the former Rendez-vous des Cammioners was for many years. It is the braindchild of two chefs, one Eugenie, an autodidact Senegalese and the other Philippe who trained at l’Ecole Centrale Paris. We got a wonderful warm welcome and despite the noise of the tourbuses idling outside (dB=85.2) we had a fine meal.

We had two amuses to start off; one a lovely dollop of avocado on shaved vegetables and the other a sweet soup of watermelon with fluff. Then my dining partner had the starter of an egg with summer truffle which was lovely and thick.

My friend then went on to have the fish of the day - merlu - with quinoa and I had the crispy-cooked farm-raised chicken with beans and girolles - both way above average. I ended the meal with a mango, chocolate and ice finale that was very satisfying.

Our bill, with one bottle and three glasses of Moulin a Vent wine, no bottled water but terrific light rye-tasting bread and one coffee was 92 E.

July 04, 2016

Pirouette in the 1st is a place we never tire of, both because of the terrific welcome, attention and wine selection but because Tomy Gosset's cooking is so wonderful and bright (Warning: he'll not be here come the fall; watch this space for an update). We walked by the menu of the day (20E for two semi-forced dishes) and went instead for the 45 E for 3 dishes off the carte.

For firsts, 3 of us went for the girolles with tomato, pineapple and ricotta and for mains 3 chose the Pornac pigeon with zucchini, onions, pesto and coques; one going with the maigre with leeks (unpictured).

Desserts were the gorgeous ("best in my life") Ossau-Iraty and Espuma Citron with mango ice cream and kiwi fruit, good as well.

Our bill with two bottles of wine, 1 bottle of Chateldon and 4 coffees was 244 E or 122 E a couple.

July 02, 2016

AG Les Halles opened it seems just last week, and already was packed to the gills by the time we left. I made reservations in my real name (hey - I only hide my first visit) on line and apparently Alain Geean spied the rez and swamped us with treats and coupes of…. before we’d even ordered. Can I recall them all? No? But they certainly included:

And then what we ordered:- Rillettes of duck- Gravlax- XYZ cant remember)- Daurade with black rice that had an incredibly delicious tasty flesh and skin & a light green sauce that was 'lemony' - an outstanding dish!- Quasi de veau- Tigre (the choicest pieces of beef) with new potatoes- A “no cheese” cheesecake, and- A roasted fig.

Our bill (remember, the champagne, apero treats, house-bottled water and other stuff was comp’d) with a bottle and glass of wine and three coffees, was 151.50 E for 4, thus 75.75 E a couple. We'll be back soon!

May 29, 2016

Champeaux under the Canopee in Les Halles in the 1st is a brasserie open 7/7 and thus one of the rare good places open for Sunday lunch; thus we found ourselves there again and luckily the clinking/clunking railway-type announcement board was devoted to a Mother's Day message rather than the specials of the day, etc. We three spent some time deciding on what we'd have, distracted by the allure of the soufflés.

We started off with the rather ordinary amuse-bouches; Colette then had the haricots verts a la parisienne ( a crème citronnée on the beans and covered with lots of shaved mushrooms of Paris on top; our friend had the warm, warm as in cooked, vegetable salad with tender basil; and I had the escargots with sorrel and horseradish, mushrooms and crispy rye.

Our friend had the Vol-Au-vent weekend special; Colette continued to soldier on with her mound of beans; and I ventured forth with a tartare of beef called "bien assaisonne" which I think was made pepper-spicy for Yankees rather than mild for the French - it came with rather good frites and a nice green salad.

For desserts the ladies had a soufflé with Cointreau and lovely orange slices and caramel beurre sale with pistachio ice cream.

With a bottle and glass of wine, no bottled water, good bread and 3 coffees, our bill was 151 E, thus 100.66 E a couple.

May 01, 2016

6.6 Champeaux under La Canopée in Les Halles in the 1st, technically 12 passage de la Canopee or around the corner from the Porte Rambuteau, open 7/7, 01.53.45.84.50 is a bit hard to find but is well worth the search. While Emmanuel Rubin made great sport of the airport-like waiting room air of the place, and indeed the display panel of dishes rattles too much like an airport one, the space is airy and surprisingly, despite it being full with 160 customers, it was noise baffled enough to permit easy talking (dB = 84.5). A less judgmental picture was described by Hadrien Gonzales two weeks before.

The French friend I've had the longest was just back from baby-sitting 5 young'uns in Normandy and decided to start with the snails with sorrel and raifort (couldn't taste the latter) and champignons de Paris on crusty rye bread while I had an almost deconstructed onion soup; wherein the bread and cheese came separate from the onion soup - I thought both our firsts were a cut above bib brasserie standards.

For a main, Madame went with what it would take a lot of time to prepare at home - a vol-au-vent, and I had lamb shoulder that was as under-cooked as possible under the circumstances, with epeautre vert (spelt and an intense green sauce); both dishes again were above standard for a big brasserie.

We split the dessert - a house-made chocolate mousse, again above standard.

Our bill, with a bottle of Chinon, decent bread and three coffees, no bottled water, was 115 E.

Go? If stuck nearby on a Sunday, when Pirouette and AG Les Halles are closed, indeed.

Anything amiss John? Well, yes, the amuse bouche couldn't hold up to the rest of the meal, but hey that's a small matter.

April 26, 2016

6.0 (well actually 7 for the seafood, 3 for the service), 94 rue St Denis in the 1st, 09.53.58.97.13, closed Mondays (Metro: Etienne Marcel) is in the middle of hell, well I mean Halles, with teeshirt etc shops all around. From the outside it looks like an unfinished wood enclosure, which it is, with paneling like a pacqueboat and booths set like private rooms, all with two level shelves on which sit the bread and shellfish detritus pans. It's cool, very cool, even though the front window has displays of shellfish as one sees tonkatsu and sushi displays in Japan. The two-sided carte/menu has platters as well as single items and the latter looks like a spread-sheet.

I started out with an intensely flavored bisque d'etrilles that was fabulous; then two of us ordered the 14 E Moussaillon du jour and the bold guy chose the 32 E Plaisancier which had so much he begged us to take some; all the seafood was good (except my spicy sauce loving Filipino-American pal couldn't get any hot sauce). We wound up ordering a wonderful and generous assortment of seasonal fruits and the café gourmand (with great caramel chocolate ice cream and lovely mini-desserts).

With two bottles of wine, alright bread and no bottled water or other coffee/tea, our bill (with a La Fouchette reduction) was 117 E or 78 E a couple.

Go? Ah, there's the rub. While the food was excellent, the service was spotty and our dishes arrived minutes apart; we also had trouble hailing the staff from our seating below deck. But as one of us, who has been a professional chef, noted, they're young, they're new and they haven't been at it that long. On verra.

February 01, 2016

5.5 Du Coq a l'Ane, 28, rue Croix des Petits Champs (right across from all the gold in the Banque de France) in the 1st, 01.42.36.74.10, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays (Metro: Palais Royal) is one of those bistros that shoots out of nowhere but as opposed to the Sanglier Bleu yesterday, has no pretentions and serves as a cantine for the worker bees at the Banque de France, Ministry of Culture, etc. How do I know? They all wear the uniform (grey suits, black tee-shirts), and have cell phones at the ready.

So. Let's go! I started off with oeufs mayo, a reliable starter that cannot be frozen and thawed, sous-vided, bought at Metro and it was just fine. For mains, my dining companion had an onglet she thought was too bland, my solution is to cry for A1 sauce but she ate most of it and all the rather decent fries; while I had the haddock Dieppe style (apparently that means with butter and capers here as opposed to mussels and white wine as described elsewhere), quite decent. We finished with a nougat glace shared.

Our bill with a full bottle of wine, a bottle of water and two coffees, was an astonishing 60 E for 2.

Go? This means you grand-kids and back-packers, the bargain of the year, for sure.